Supernatural (TV Series) Family Remains (2009) User Reviews

Good Episode - Plot Hole Though

[jonesT2150 · 9/10 · 17 April 2011]

This episode was quite creepy and I enjoyed it except for one major plot hole that bugged me. So apparently the girl has been locked in the house with her brother and are pretty much animals? Then how are they literate enough to write the warnings? One word was even appropriately capitalized. That bugged me. Otherwise, this was a very good episode.

I also really enjoyed the surprise of the brother. While it did feel convenient for the writers, it was also unexpected in an episode full of surprises.

Lastly, I was glad to see Dean starting to deal with his time in Hell, even if only in a small way.

One of the scariest episodes, despite poor writing

[TheTominator · 8/10 · 9 May 2010]

The fourth season plays out slightly differently from the previous 3, because it spends very little time with useless jobs and stays strictly on the angels/apocalypse line, and this episode is pretty much useless to the continuity of the season, apart from Dean's breakdown near the end. Nevertheless, it's a decent episode.

The family itself is full of bad characters. The father and the mother are well developed and realistic, but Uncle Ted is the clichéd smart ass know it all, and ends up being annoying, which ruins the commotion his death scene should have caused. The younger son, Danny, is incredibly fake, because the writers try to make him the kid that is so innocent he does not think it's weird that someone is living inside the walls, but tries to make friends with her. Danny is clearly too old to be that type of character, and really, no kids do that, regardless of age. The daughter, Lizzie, is really pathetic, because she first starts out as the rebel teenager who loves to complain to her parents with that signal scene, and then turns into a cute loving girl.

But, despite all the writing flaws, the sheer perversity and the look of the inbred girl make it one of the scariest episodes of the series. We have incest, violent (for TV standards) murder, claustrophobic settings, a really disturbing family, and the meanest girl ever. The Supernatural episodes that are not about demons, ghosts, shape-shifters, witches or Rugarus, but humans, are, to me, the scariest, because it shows just how mean humanity can be.

If you liked this, watch: The People under The Stairs, Supernaural: The Benders (Season 1, Episode 15)

Not a bad episode.

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 23 January 2009]

Family remains is not a bad episode, but not a great episode either. The creators of Supernatural were trying to give a new angle for the show. Instead of ghosts the Winchester's were dealing with deranged people. Family remains is a tribute to the movies "The Hills have Eyes", and "The people under the Stairs". I saw special effects influences from the movie "The Ring" added in this episode. We learn about Dean's experience in hell. The Winchester's save another family. Entertaining but I believe the creators are running out of ideas. I give this episode 7 out of 10 scares. How will Sam handle Dean's problems?

This episode is perfect and so movie-like.

[hijabagha · 10/10 · 17 February 2015]

This particular episode of Supernatural, Family Returns, is just so complete and finely polished that it is almost like watching a movie (if you know what I mean). Plus the "twists" in the story are so unexpected, you just do Not see them coming and a little element-of- surprise just always keeps things interesting. The in-the-wall creatures look so realistically abandoned and psycho- killer type. Furthermore, the family and their story develops so nicely. And of course Sam and Dean scenes in this episode tell us so much about Dean's situation and are Awesome! In short, this is one of my most favorite episodes of Supernatural, shows how simple human-beings can turn into blood-thirsty killers.

If I had to guess...

[AnnaShade · 4 January 2009]

First, an explanation for my exuberant and unfounded rating of 10/10: I will be happy for ANY episode without angels, demons, Ruby, or Anna. Plus, haunted houses are just so much fun.

Okay, I've seen the preview for this episode, and I'm excited to see it on January 10th. When I saw the part about the creepy little girl who committed suicide stepping THROUGH the salt circle, I was like "What the heck kind of ghost can go through a salt line?!?" Either this is some totally new creature, or my guess is that it's a Revenant. Apparently they're kinda like zombie/ghost or something. Bobby thought Dean was either that or a shape shifter when he came back in Lazarus Rising. Or maybe just a person.

So I think it's going to be a fun, spooky episode with Sam and Dean in a haunted house (or so they want us to think!) dealing with a revenant. We haven't seen one of those yet, despite all the talk we've heard about them... I guess.

I'll probably change this comment when I actually see the episode, but who knows.

Less known the better

[shwetafabm · 8/10 · 12 June 2020]

I liked the episode for what it was. Dean's soldier suicidal attitude gets annoying ep by ep, it was bad before but ofcourse it gets worse. I don't think it is wrong characterization just annoying.

Lives of Torture

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 5 June 2010]

Dean reads on the newspaper about the mysterious death of a man that was slaughtered inside a locked room in a farm in the countryside of Stratton, Nebraska and the Winchester brothers travel to the place considering a ghost case. They expect to find the house empty but meet the Carter family that has just moved to the country expecting to rebuild their lives after a tragedy. They discover that the victim had lost his wife in the delivery and his daughter that hanged herself in the attic twenty years ago. When the family is attacked by the freak creature, the brothers protect the family with a circle of salt; but she crosses the protection and they realize that she is not a ghost and they question whether she might be human.

"Family Remains" is a sort of episode that recalls "The X-Files" and does not follow the lead story of this Fourth Season. It is a spooky show without being special, but there are flaws like the forgotten Murder of Uncle Ted. Another great attraction if Helen Slater in the role of Susan Carter. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Vestígio de Família" ( "Vestige of Family")

Disappointed At First...

[dhalfen-1 · 7/10 · 22 February 2009]

...But, in retrospect, this episode was better than my initial impressions ranked it.

First, it's definitely about an _isolated_ incident. "Arc" story elements are tangential and only illustrate character development (which is rather good, if a bit forced). As the other reviewer said, it's a tribute to some similarly-themed stories, where _people_ are the greatest monsters of all. (And I'm _not_ referring to the brother and sister -- they're just "wild.")

This series began with _many_ episodes of this kind. Since then, the great "arc" has received a tremendous amount of attention (deservedly so!), but we can enjoy these detours "off the beaten path" just as much -- only if we check our "expectations" at the door!

Second, I will confess that when the sister crossed the salt line, I was _totally_ blown away. (Major WTF moment!) This was, no doubt, the intention of the scene! (Not to mention being totally at odds with the rest of the entire series! ;^)

Love the show, but this episode left me feeling a tad confused and unsettled.

[cornman_93 · 7/10 · 21 October 2014]

This episode was a good episode, a change up to the usual supernatural plot. However, it left me with quite a few questions. There were several inconsistencies.

1) How does a feral child know how to spell? Really??? 2) Sam and Dean fight demons, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, shape shifters, etc, etc....all of which are creatures that have considerably more strength than this young, malnourished, and feral child. How could they not over power her? That being said, I did see that someone wrote about not knowing why Sam and Dean did not have guns. She took them. Watch the episode.

It was not the greatest episode, but it's a hiccup in the series as a whole. You try to write a million scripts of amazing scenes and thrilling stories, & see if you don't mess up a few here and there. The episode is worth watching, as is the show as a whole. Enjoy!

No plausability

[janedoe5300 · 5/10 · 1 December 2020]

Supernatural is usually very consistant in establishing stories wherein the victim(s) believe the whole ghost thing, cause at some point or another there is no other logical explanation. Well, in this episode they drop the ball, as there is pretty logical explanation right in front of the familys nose, and yet they believe the boys almost immediately.

Imagine this; You don't know Sam and Dean, and you are watching a movie, seen from the familys perspective. They lost their son, wanna start fresh, they arrive at their new home and two Strangers walk out of the house, claiming to be from the city, says the place is not safe. The family finds out they're lying about everything. Strange things start happening, and suddenly the guys show up again, claiming the house is haunted. Because the kids have seen things, the family almost instantly believes this, as well as some BS about salt. Now the tires are slashed on all cars and the dog is dead, no escape. They are still running around with two complete Strangers who act like nutjobs talking about spirits and salt, but no questions asked. Later, they find out it's just a creepy girl, cause guess what, of course the salt thing didn't work, and they all escape outside while one stranger fights her off. Apparently the little girl beat the grown man, even though he has the bigger weapon, cause she escapes, but for some reason doesn't hurt him. He comes outside, a little bruised, tell them she escaped, and they cold buy it. But wait now the son is missing, curiously enough that happened while the Stranger was "fighting off" the little girl. But no questions asked, the two men of the family even agree to split up and go with one psycho each, to search different places. Some time later one of the Strangers comes out of the house, without the uncle, cause he is dead, the girl killed him. Nothing to back this up except his word, and no questions asked. Nothing at this point, that the Strangers have told the family, have proven to be true, and still they take their word for everything. At what point are we, the audience, supposed to get fed up with the stupidity of this family, at what point is the family gonna realise that the two Strangers and the girl are a team, playing a sick game with the family. The Strangers obviously staked the house out, waited until just before the new owners showed up, the girl hid in the house, the guys put on a role, and hey here we go, psycho cat and mouse! It's just too implausible, and it completely ruined what could have been a great MOTW episode! With some more care for the plausability the episode would have been an easy 8-9.

People are just crazy

[zombiehigh18 · 6/10 · 25 November 2011]

It's nice to see the boys helping innocent people every now and then like they used to, away from the ongoing Heaven vs Hell war. But I have to say I'm disappointed again with this episode for poor writing, week story and bad directing. (And I really think Jared and Jensen were both bored to their bones and not having any fun doing this)

It's good to see Dean dealing with his time in Hell but his angst, to save as many as he can to make up for his guilt, seemed late onset and forced. (It's reminiscent of Sam's same attitude on season two) What bothered me even more was how distant the brothers seemed, each of them caught up in his own world refusing to help or even get help from the other. They were scattered and did not have any plan on this job they kept moving the family in and out of the house, which made them look more like amateurs rather than professional hunters.(and how can a little girl get a grip on Dean, that's absurd) The final scene where we get more insight about the time Dean spent in Hell, although Dean continues to break your heart, We still get a mirror image of last episode's final scene where Dean opens up and Sam just listens with pain in his eyes. Come on, I thought Sam wanted to know about Hell, to help his brother, instead we get a rather stunned and speechless reaction from him again. Sam's lack of empathy and his cold distant attitude reminds me of his same attitude in "Long distance call", I wonder was this attitude because he is too tired for the non stop job hunt or because he had changed much after Dean's death or is it simply because Sam is going dark side because of giving in to his daemonic powers!.

But hold on, it's not all that bad, the episode had some scary parts, a creepy girl with reference to "The benders" episode and some gory scenes which takes us back to the essence of seasons one and two. I liked how Dean could relate to the feral children and his anger over missing with the Impala was nice.

My favourite scene is when Dean was going in the hole and whispering to himself "Please nobody grab my leg", it was funny, something I never thought Dean would say, so as his reaction to Ted's death, seeing him ducking with his flash light pointed down and trying not to breath heavily broke my heart, and left me sad for a guy who seemed has been through much yet he still manages to gather all his courage to save people.

Condemned to Agony

[ttapola · 7/10 · 29 July 2011]

Despite the "Then" recap featuring only myth-arc moments, this episode is more of the monster-of-the-week type. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but the "Then" recap is a bit misleading. And even though the more standalone episodes can be just as excellent as the myth-arc ones, they usually are of lower quality. Not necessarily bad, just not great either. In this case, we have a good, solid episode, with some nice twists.

Except for the final scene, there are no real great character moments for the Winchesters and there really aren't any groundbreaking plot ideas (there are, after all, several nods to Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs), but the script does play with the viewers expectations. Then again, without that it would be just a stereotypical 5/10, wouldn't it? Minus points come from one character who is an example of the Too Stupid to Live trope, and some clichéd twists among the genuinely surprising ones. Plus points, in addition to the above-mentioned ones, from effectively spooky mood throughout, Dean's usual witty dialog, and Mandy Playdon's truly scary performance. However, among the first one hundred or so episodes, this just doesn't measure up against the stand-out ones, but is a 7/10 instead.

Made me almost stop watching an otherwise great series

[telesway · 1/10 · 10 March 2012]

Like many others, I was surprised when the girl crossed the salt line. Because before that she had moved in and out of the house at speeds that would leave 100m Olympic champion sprinters behind and all this without making a sound. But no, she turns out to be human. An inbred human. A mentally handicapped, famished human who has been trapped within the walls by her father so her eyes can't handle bright lights and she can't speak.

And the creators of the show portray her as a terrifying monster? What kind of a message are they trying to send here? That the mentally handicapped are monsters? As well as the victims of incest and abuse? And what should we do with them? Kill them! And as another reviewer pointed out, the girl (and her brother) are both skin and bones and have eaten a handful of animals between them, they don't have muscles under their skin... how should we believe they are strong? Because we have to conclude that either they are super strong or Dean is weaker than a malnourished teenage girl half his weight if even that. Or then he was just so freaked out that she screamed at him while trying to defend her territory, scary! Right...

I was wondering why on Earth the brothers didn't carry guns with them like they always do? Well, the answer became obvious when the girl turned out to be human: if they had had their guns, like they always do, they would have shot her once and she would have been dead since she only wielded an old kitchen knife. Well, even if they hadn't guns at all, come on, WTF? Two adult men, both muscular, fit, tall, and supposedly expert fighters. And they get their asses kicked by a famished teenage girl? I burst out laughing when they were cursing that they had "only" knives/mêlée weapons against her instead of shotguns and pistols. Come on, people! It's a freaking GIRL! With NO combat training! Learn some bloody Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, submission wrestling or something that you can subdue a far weaker opponent without hurting them! Wrap up the crazed and undoubtedly panicking poor girl so she can't hurt you or herself and have someone call the cops on the cell (or drive to the nearest station if there's no reception).

So people, always remember to fear and stab/shoot mentally handicapped victims of incest and abuse especially if they are starved kids trying to protect their home and their siblings! Seriously though, I found this episode not only the worst episode of the entire show, it was the worst episode of ANY show I have EVER watched (and I have watched a lot) and made me want to quit watching Supernatural. Luckily this seems to have been a one-off brain-fart for the creators of the show.

If anything, I felt so sorry for the poor, pitiable girl (and her brother) whom the makers of Supernatural wanted me to fear and hate. I did hate Sam and Dean and the dumb-ass family in this episode though.

-CA

PS. Has anyone else noticed that Supernatural is oddly misogynistic? All the women/girls in the show are either annoying, bitchy hard-asses (Bela, Jo), helpless victims (the, well, victims in the show)... or evil demons! Can we please get ONE strong female character who 1. is NOT annoying/bitchy, 2. IS smart, resourceful, independent, 3. does NOT sacrifice herself to protect men, 4. is NOT a demon? Apparently such women don't exist according to Supernatural. Women exist to sacrifice their lives for men (especially Sam and Dean), to be victimized, or then they have to be bitchy hard-asses or downright evil. Wouldn't you love those choices?

PPS. Though in all fairness, the creators of Supernatural don't seem too fond of ethnic minorities or the handicapped either though these elements are not quite so pronounced as the veiled misogyny (and yeah, I'm a dude writing this review).

PPPS. Please, PLEASE send Sam and Dean on a BJJ course so they learn to subdue harmless girls half their size without hurting them, please!!!

Wasted my time watching it.

[kmctoma · 1/10 · 29 July 2021]

I was so disappointed but i waited until the end of the episode hoping that it will have atleast a nice end. Bad decision.

What the heck was that???

[batuucan · 3/10 · 18 January 2009]

This three points is only because of how great these series are. The other seven, excuse me, but I could not give it.

First, there was a very long break till this episode, and after the great and curious ending of the 10th episode, after this long break, I were waiting a great episode.

So, come on! How can a 17 year look-a-like trapped girl could be this fast, skilled, and could transfer from the house to the bushes so quick? If that would be a ghost, the episode could be an ordinary Supernatural episode reminding the first season, and that would be nostalgic, or this girl could be slower but heinous and could use secret pathways to only kill the family people, and not seeing Sam and Dean. But no! This girl is a super powered trapped girl, and only ate 5 animals, as we see??? Hmm, the girl must go the mother and girl, but Dean must live an action, so what should we do? Oh, yes, let's make a trapped brother!!! I can only smile to that, a really fast, strong, and never mentioned and told pale skinned brother. Well, they all ate 5 animals, and trained Combat Skills, Swashbuckling and Stealth!

Oh, another thing. Surely if I move in a new farmhouse, when closet opens, someone throws a baseball to me, and when I see who throws the ball is a pale-skinned Samara looking girl, and I would have said: "Hello, don't be afraid!" and would have thought that "Hey, a Samara looking psycho girl, what a super playmate!" The worst episode of Supernatural at all, worse than the crap jungle monster episode and worse than a cliché horror movie. And unfortunately, this episode is in the very best season of these great series.

Extremely Boring

[harikerr · 2/10 · 27 December 2020]

The acting from most of the supporting cast is super wooden, it reminds me of Bugs, I nearly fell asleep in the second act and the rest is not much better, it gets 2 stars because Sam and Dean are still in this but unfortunately not much until the 2nd act

The Neverending Episode

[derekfb · 1/10 · 19 June 2021]

Was I the only one who felt like this episode took hours? It just wouldn't seem to end. And when it finally did and they had that annoying bromance scene all it did was serve to disappoint.

Some of the dumbest crap in the entire run is in this episode

[CubsandCulture · 4/10 · 7 March 2020]

Horror characters and/or plotting can sometimes be painfully dumb. Supernatural mostly avoids this but every once and awhile it crops up. Sam and Dean are freaken' idiots in this episode as is the family. Even the "ghost" behaves in a completely illogical manner. The episode is always a chore to sit through when I re-watch the series because of this quality.

Worse the final scene of Dean confessing his sadism is not needed. The prior episode ended with a similar confession that implied what this what spells out. Maybe if the Winchesters didn't lose their common sense here the final scene would play better. As it is it is insultingly convert subtext into text.